The NAMM Show 2018 Interviews – Street Lynx

Street Lynx is an up-and-coming power trio from the Los Angeles area ready to prowl the nation with their superbly lethal brand of punk and hard ass rock and roll. The band has opened for the legendary Doro at The Whisky on the Sunset Strip and recent issued a stunning debut EP entitled Blackout!

Highwire Daze Online caught up with two out of three Street Lynx members to find out more about this exhilarating band on the rise, their mighty Blackout manifesto, weapons of choice up onstage, and other topics of intrigue. And now from The Media Center at The NAMM Show in Anaheim, we present to you B.B. and Eian of Street Lynx. Read on…

Introduce yourself and tell me what you do in Street Lynx.B.B.: My name is B.B. Christine. I play bass and I sing lead for Street Lynx.

Eian: My name is EianLopez and I play lead guitar for Street Lynx.

How long has Street Lynx been together and where did you all meet?B.B.: We’ve been together for almost a year. It’ll be a year in February. I met Eian through Craigslist and Kyle we met just through Facebook and Instagram. He moved out here from Virginia and he was adding a bunch of people from L.A. that are musicians. He added me when I was in a different band and we got talking and we decided to start a new band. And here we are…

Eian: A funny story how I found them, because I work as an EMT so I was sitting in the ambulance with my partner. I had being playing guitar for about 13 years at the time, so I thought “Alright, it’s about time for me to find a band.” So I go on Craigslist looking, and I see that they rehearse in Rancho Cucamonga, somewhere which is right close to where I live. I was like, “Okay, it looks legit. They practice in a real studio. I’m going to go ahead and hit them up.” Next thing you know, we hit it off like instantly and it blossomed from there.

Is there any overall story or concept being the Blackout EP title?B.B.: It’s based off of one of our songs on the EP called Blackout Blackout. And the idea behind that song is it feels like there’s a lot of these bands that are getting attention that maybe don’t necessarily deserve it. They don’t put in the same effort that we feel like we do. So we feel like we’re in a Blackout– that all of our guitars are just invisible or silent to other people.

Blackout EP by Street Lynx

Select any other song from Blackout EP and what inspired the lyrics.B.B.: Foolin’ – that’s the first song off the EP. I do have anxiety – and that song is about the feelings I have around other people and how I am constantly in a battle between myself and the anti-version of myself. And how I’m constantly fighting the feelings and trying to side with one of my personalities I guess.

What could one expect from a live Street Lynx show?Eian: A lot of energy – especially from Kyle. He’s like this massive ball of energy when it comes to being a drummer – his hair is going everywhere – his arms are shooting all over the place. I would say just a lot of raw energy and good music. It’s different, in my opinion, than a lot of the bands I’ve heard because we try to do a lot of the classic influences – but at the same time a lot of my influences are modern. So we kind of mesh it together and make some kind of different animal. It’s just a lot of fun. Come check us out.

You definitely have three different members with three very different influences, and it all comes together quite well…B.B.: I had no idea that it would even turn out the way that it did. I was just going on there and like “I want a sort of punk hard rock kind of thing” like Phil X and The Drills. I was heavily inspired by him at the time when I started this. That was something I kind of wanted to base it off, but it turned into something more that I couldn’t even think of by myself. I’m really happy with how it turned out.

What was the experience like opening for Doro, and did you get to meet her or hang out with her at all?B.B.: We actually didn’t. Everyone was telling us that she was super nice, but we didn’t get the chance to meet her.

Eian: She had her own security guard. And they were kind of like guarding off her dressing room while we had ours up there at The Whisky. It was hard to get close, but it was cool. The energy in the room was just insane! There were so many people –it was packed! We started playing, and I’ve never heard a crowd cheer like that for my guitar playing or for the band at all. This being my first band (they’ve been in other bands before); I was personally blown away by all the sheer energy that the crowd was giving off. It was amazing!

B.B.: And Doro and her crowd interaction is just incredible – I love it. She did so much and it was great!

Eian and B.B. of Street Lynx

If Street Lynx could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?Eian: I would have to say Metallica. They are my favorite band of all time. Why – because man, they’re amazing! Just the opportunity to be on a tour opening for them would be a dream come true for me.

B.B.: If I had to choose one, I would choose Guns N’ Roses. Duff McKagan is awesome! That’s just one of the earliest bands I can ever remember hearing at a young age. I remember hearing Paradise City and Welcome To The Jungle and all that. That would be amazing!

If the music of Street Lynx was a donut, what kind would it be and why?Eian: It would be a mixture of donut I think. It would be anywhere between a glazed sprinkled and part of it like dark, dark chocolate – inside and outside glazed and then other side would be a cream filled kind of thing.

B.B.: Like a chocolate cream filling. So it’s dark on the inside. And it’ll look so happy on the outside, with rainbow sprinkles!

What is the best and worst part about having a boyfriend in another band? (Editor’s Note: B.B.’s boyfriend is Ted Cendejas from Electric Hound)B.B.: The best thing about it is that we have a lot to talk about. We understand each other a lot better than you would dating somebody who is not a musician. Like “why are you gone all the time?” or “why do you care so much? You’re only playing at small shows.” But we support each other in everything we do – and I think that’s really awesome because music is such a big part of both of our lives.

Eian: What a lot of people don’t realize either – that whole thing with “why are you gone all of the time? Why are you playing all of these small shows?” Those shows, being as small as they are, will get you noticed.

B.B.: You have to start somewhere.

Eian: Playing The Whisky –playing The Viper Room – you don’t get there initially. You work up to it – and once you start playing there, you have people who are people of interest, who will probably help you get on your way. A lot of people don’t understand – sometimes my family doesn’t understand “why are you gone all of the time? You’re never home.” Well, you know, I gotta work. I gotta gig, I gotta rehearse and this and that. That’s just how life is when you’re trying to be a rock star.

Do you still do your EMT job?Eian: I do. I actually just got off a shift at 9:00AM this morning – showered real quick – and just got over here.

Since we are at NAMM, what is your instrument of choice when you play live and why?Eian: For me, it is my Schechter Sun Valley Super Shredder. I fell in love with Schechter around 2012. I have the Schechter 2012 version of the Damien. Amazing craftsmanship. It sounds great. The pickups in it are EMG and EMG is just flat out amazing. That is my axe of choice, my weapon to just mow down to the crowd pretty much. It’s an amazing guitar!

B.B.: My 2014 American Special Precision Bass from Fender. It’s the first real Fender that I’ve ever gotten. I’ve always been able to rely on it. It’s never had any problems. Fender overall has been a great company for me. They’ve been really cool to me. They got me into NAMM. They’re the nicest people and really helpful. If anything were to go wrong, I know that they would be there to help me.

What’s up next for Street Lynx?B.B.: More songs. More shows.

Eian: Kick some ass. More shows!

And how could people contact you?B.B.: You could go to Street Lynx band on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. We’re also on Spotify, ITunes and Amazon music. We have a website https://streetlynxband.wixsite.com/home – it’s long right now but we’ll change it later. Everything is super updated. I’m constantly making sure I’m on it all of the time…